Afghan Women: A Brief Summary

Kiveat and Heidler pair portraits of Afghani women with a short interview about their live in Afghanistan before, during and after the overthrow of the Taliban in their book “Women of Courage: Intimate Stories from Afghanistan.” An interview is conducted with a housewife who burned herself, flight attended, photojournalist, actress, saleswomen, filmmaker, abused wife, presidential candidate and many more Afghani women. The book contains forty interviews with women from different walks of life. The author mentions in the introduction that three of the women have fallen victim since their portrait appeared. Extremists shot two of the women, and another one of them died giving birth to her first child. Kiviat argues that these women were “victim
to the very aspect of life in Afghanistan they were fighting to change” (X). ‘Women of Courage’ does not only offer a glimpse into the lives and struggles of the women in a changing country, but their hope for better future. The book is very interesting and absorbing, it enabled the reader to see and understand directly from the women who suffered and faced hardships in Afghanistan.